W5 - The Logic of Neuroscientific Explanations of Emotion 2/2

Question 1

Why is it important to make explicit the “pathways of inference” between animal and human emotions?

Answer 1

limit some of the confusion around studying emotion in animals

Question 2

What are the three pathways of inference between animal and human emotion identified by Mendl?

Answer 2

1. Emotion concepts
2. Emotion indicators
3. Emotion contexts

Question 3

Why would the wse of ‘-like’ (e.g. depression- like) be relevant in marking a distinction between human and animal?

Answer 3

Emotions between humans and animals are not known to be identical.

Question 4

What is the problem with ‘basic emotion’ theories (e.g. Panksepp) that translate human concepts of discrete emotions to animals?

Answer 4

approach is anthropomorphic & risk missing out on animal-specific states.

Question 5

What are the dimensions of “core-affect”? How could it be relevant for bridging the gap between animal and human emotion?

Answer 5

valence & arousal

decomposes emotion in very simple variables, so might be more comparable between species

Question 6

What other dimension of emotion could be well translatable between animals and humans?

Answer 6

function

Question 7

What is the most common translated indicator between humans and animals used in animal reserach?

Answer 7

behavioural read-outs

Question 8

Give two debated assumptions implicated in the translation of emotion indicators between animals and humans.

Answer 8

human emotions correspond closely to specific and defined behavioural, physiological, neural & cognitive profiles

this correspondence is conserved in the animal species under study

Question 9

True or false: valence is usually a more reliable form of emotion indicator in animals.

Answer 9

True

Question 10

What is mostly important when translating emotion contexts?

Answer 10

Take into account the ethology of the animal under study

Question 11

What is an important limitation when inferring affective states from animals in specific contexts?

Answer 11

we may fail to detect stimuli that are
important to another species

Question 12

What is an established method to infer when an animal is undergoing negative or positive affect?

Answer 12

The environment/context in which the animal is

Question 13

What is a dimension of emotion impossible to translate between animals and humans?

Answer 13

conscious experience